BRAJBHOOMI

BRAJ: The land of Krishna

Located about 115 km from Delhi on Agra-Delhi national highway, Braj lays in the golden triangle region of Agra-Jaipur-Delhi. Spread across the central doab region of Ganga – Yamuna Rivers and adorned with the benevolence of supreme lord Radha and Krishna, Braj is the land of rich culture and heritage in India. As per the geographical statistics Braj spans around the area of around 3800 sq. Km.
Situated along the banks of river Yamuna (also known as Kalindi) Braj can be divided into two units, the eastern side of the Yamuna encompassing places like Gokul, Mahavan, Baldeo, Mat and Bajna, while the western side region of the river spanning the Mathura region along with Vrindavan, Govardhan, Kusum Sarovar, Nandgaon and Barsana. Brajbhoomi as closely related to the mythological epics of Vishnupuran, Mahabharata, Bhagvata and Varaha Purana originally inherited its name from the Sanskrit word ‘Vraja’ which is closely linked to pastimes or leelas of lord Krishna, the eternal and complete manifestation of God or the’ Purna Avatar’ with his cows, cowherd boys (Gopas), cowherd girls (Gopis) and divine supremacy Sri Radha. It’s said in traditional scriptures; “Brajati gacchati iti brajah” (व्रजति गच्छति इति व्रजः). So, the land full of groves, hills, lakes, forests, where cows and people roam around is actually described as Braj. Brajbhoomi has solely witnessed the pastimes of Sri Krishna, and thus is called the land of the supreme Lord Krishna who is the expositor of the sacred Hindu epic Shreemadbhagvata. Along with Yamuna, around 137 sacred groves and 1000 kunds have been the centers of the pastimes of lord Krishna from childhood till youth.
Brajbhoomi is known for its rich culture and allures thousands of pilgrims every year during the endless festivities in the region. Krishna ‘Janmashtami’ and ‘Braj ki holi’ are the major festive attractions which should never be missed by the tourists in Braj. Apart from this, Rasalila & Charkula dance depicting the love harmony of the divine couple Radha-Krishna is an integral tradition of Braj. The people of Braj are called Brajvasis and the language spoken is called Brajbhasha which is quite similar to spoken Hindi. Most of the bhakti and devotional poetry is written in Brajbhasha. In one of such poetry written in Brajbhasha, the famous Muslim poet Raskhan and the great devotee of Lord Krishna describes the glory and pays his ultimate reverence to the land of Braj in his poetic verses and desires to be a part of it.

History of Braj

Braj has its origin back to 5000 years. With the arrival of lord Krishna about 5000 years ago this cultural heritage started and endlessly continued through the medieval historic period of Shung, Maurya, Kushana when Mathura the capital city of Braj was completely influenced by the Buddhists culture. The sacred land of Braj also went through the invasions and destructions by the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. Between 11th and 15th century, for around 800 years the region was under the rule of the Muslim rulers from Delhi. The whole region including Mathura and Vrindavan has the impressions of this rule which tried to suppress the Hindu culture. During 16th century, with the spread of bhakti movement in India the Saints Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu from Bengal and Vallabhacharya began the rediscovery of Braj through bhakti movement and thus along with their followers, recovered and reinstalled the deities (which were hidden in the kunds fearing the destruction from Muslim rulers between 11th and 15th century) in the temples.

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Mathura is a part of North central Railways network and is connected with all the major cities of the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gwalior, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad etc.ROAD
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